“You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you …

“… the stranger that dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; “Love you therefore the stranger: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus and /Deuteronomy)

FOUNDING FATHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

(There is) “a right which nature has given to all men, of departing from the country in which chance, not choice, has placed them.” (Thomas Jefferson)

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong….” (George Washington)

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” (John Adams)

FACTS

immigrant (def.): A person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.

refugee (def.): a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com

In 1939, the St. Louis, a ship carrying 935 mostly German Jews seeking US asylum from the Nazis, left Hamburg, Germany. The US would not accept them, citing quota and administrative issues. The ship returned the passengers to various European countries where 254 of them were killed in the Holocaust.The Holocaust Encyclopedia, “The voyage of the St. Louis”

The first refugee legislation, The Displaced Persons Act, was passed in 1948. It allowed for 250,000 Europeans to resettle in the US after WW II, and another 400,000 Europeans to come to the US who were fleeing Communist governments.

The Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 originally provided a structure for admitting refugees primarily from Southeast Asia and the Soviet Union. This Resettlement Act is the current legal guideline for US policy.Office of Refugee Resettlement, “History”

In the 37 years since the Refugee Resettlement Act was passed, 3 million refugees have been resettled in the US.

In 2016, President Obama accepted 85,000 total refugees into the US. Forty-six percent (39,000) were Muslim refugees, the most Muslims ever admitted by any president. Additionally, for the first time in 10 years, Muslim refugees outnumbered the total number of Christian refugees admitted that same year.Pew Research Center, 1/30/17. “Key facts about refugees to the US”

For the sake of truth in advertising, the poem on the Statue of Liberty should be amended to read, “(Occasionally) Give me (a reasonable amount of) your tired, your poor….” US history shows that helping refugees – without destroying our own national fabric – requires much more than a simplistic “do-gooder” approach. To successfully assimilate, refugees need abundant commitments of time and financial support from host countries which is not always pleasant to do. Refugees have health problems we don’t want. Their cultures, religious practices, and political beliefs are different from ours, and have not always been welcome in the US for as long as our nation has existed.

Simply throwing federal money at the refugee problem in the US has not solved it. Massive social and criminal problems in EU countries, related to the increase in Islamic refugees, foreshadow similar situations in the US if a better approach to processing refugee applicants is not developed and implemented.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Closing our national doors to all refugees cannot be the answer — not to a Judeo-Christian nation made up largely of immigrants, with Christianity as its backbone and a beacon of Liberty to the world. But the U.S. also has a long and proud history of security, military might and brilliance when the need arises. Here then, is an opportunity to combine the very best of American values, but it can only happen through true policy shifts. We cannot continue to accept tens of thousands of poorly-vetted Syrian or other refugees while we have protective, sanctuary cities they may hide in after committing serious crimes or acts of terrorism. We cannot continue to issue visas, without the will or ability to find those visa holders upon visa expiration. We should not release refugees amidst any community in stealth or secrecy, and any refugees with a history of terrorist activity must be denied entry. How to deal with refugee health problems is another gravely serious issue. If and when we can resolve those policy issues, then we can, and should, take on as many of those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” as we can reasonably afford to process in an orderly fashion.